“At the start of the Eighties, public disquiet was beginning to grow over early examples of miscarriages of justice, with the trigger case being that of Maxwell Confait, a murdered male prostitute. Three educationally subnormal boys – all younger than 18 – were arrested and charged. While held by the police, they were subjected to long and intensive interrogation without the presence of a lawyer. All confessed and were convicted, although new evidence eventually showed those convictions to be unsafe. The fallout of the Confait case was the creation of the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, headed by Sir Cyril Philips, which reported in 1981 and significantly affected the remainder of Hetherington’s career as DPP. That report led to the landmark Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, known fondly today by criminal law specialists as Pace, which set out strict guidelines for the provision of legal representation for suspects in custody and for police interviews. The Philips report also laid the groundwork for a subsequent piece of legislation, the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, which created the Crown Prosecution Service.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-henry-fisher-6148367.html

“A FLAMING row has broken out between the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions following the revelation (Eye 492) of reckless sexual exploits and fantasies of retired ambassador Sir Peter Hayman KCMG, CVO, MBE.
Hayman joined the Paedophile Information Exchange under the name of Henderson and conducted obscene correspondence with other PIE members through a flat he rented at 95 Linden Gardens, W2.
In October 1978, Hayman was questioned by Obscene Publications Squad officers after pornographic literature addressed to ‘Henderson’ was left on a bus. Whereas several of his PIE correspondents now face trial at the Old Bailey this month, Hayman was merely cautioned not to send obscene material through the post again.
This appears to have been the result of an Establishment ‘fix’.
The most worrying aspect of the Hayman affair lies in what was disovered at his Linden Gardens love-nest: pornographic photos, articles of female clothing indicating the regular entertainment of prostitutes and 46 quarto diaries, each of some 80 pages, cataloguing six years of deviant sexual activity.
The earlier diaries cover part of Sir Peter’s term as British High Commissioner in Canada from 1970 to 1974 and would have made him a certain victim of blackmail had they fallen into the wrong hands. Hayman had previously held top posts in the Ministry of Defence and the UK delegation to NATO.
The Eye expose of Hayman’s activities horrified the Attorney General, Sir Michael Havers, because the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Thomas ‘Tony’ Hetherington had never told him that Hayman’s diaries were obscene (if he had even mentioned them at all).
Havers demanded that the Beast of Berlin’s writings be sent to his office so he could read them himself. Hetherington panicked and set several minions previously unacquanted with the Hayman case onto the job of locating them.
When the diaries were eventually forwarded to Havers it became clear that he wasn’t the only person who’d been kept in the dark. The security services had not been informed of their blackmail potential either. Nor had Willie Whitelaw, as Home Secretary the Cabinet Minister responsible for security matters. Nor, indeed, had the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, back at the Dipper’s Office in Queen Anne’s Gate, there was a clumsy attempt to lower the charges facing Hayman’s paedophiliac cronies so that they would willingly plead guilty in return for a token fine. This would keep the public revelation to a minimum and prevent altogether the discussion of the deal over Hayman in open court.
To the Attorney General’s credit he refused to contemplate any such deal and demanded the charges stand. It now seems likely, therefore, that the dangerous weaknesses of one of Britain’s most trusted post-war security and diplomatic figures may yet be formally revealed.
But the lewd contents of Hayman’s diaries will not be read out because they form no part of the case against his fellow paedophiles.
Doubtless the diaries will not be mislaid or shredded while in the Attorney General’s care but will be returned in due course to their owner and creator.”
__________________________________________________ __
The Eye then notes Sir Peter Hayman had not resigned his job as Governor of the International Students House, a hostel in Great Portland Street, W1 for young university students from all over the world.

“The wider question for disquiet is what happened to the two individuals mentioned in Sir Michael’s statement who shared an obsession about the systematic killing by sexual torture of young people and children. They were prosecuted at St Albans – and conditionally discharged. Such execution of the law singularly fails to match the sense of public outrage.” Source: The Times 20.03.81

“LONDON, Monday (AAP AP). – A Conservative Member of Parliament has accused the Government of a cover-up for refusing to prosecute a retired diplomat implicated in a child pornography case, but Britain’s Attorney-General, Sir Michael Havers, said the man’s offence was “trivial” and did not corrupt children.

The MP, Mr Dickens, said the former diplomat’s involvement with an organisation advocating legislation of sexual relations between adults and children made him “a tremendous security risk . . . and open to blackmail”.

Mr Dickens said he would demand that the Home Secretary, Mr Whitelaw, name the man in the House of Commons later today. If Mr Whitelaw refused, he said he would name him out of a sense of “duty”.

Sir Michael denied there had been an official cover-up and told reporters the retired diplomat “committed the trivial offence of sending obscene material through the mail”.

No charges had been brought against the man because his actions were not considered to have corrupted children.

“He was dealt with in exactly the same way as a number of others who had sent obscene material through the post”, he said. “He was among a dozen other people on the fringes about whom the decision was taken not to prosecute. There’s no question of him being given immunity. He was given a formal caution”.

No other government officials would comment on the case.

The Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, has been sensitive to al legations about official cover-ups in security matters since she was forced to disclose in Parliament in 1979 that Mr Anthony Blunt, the Queen’s art historian and a former intelligence agent, had spied for the Soviet Union, but had not been charged with treason.

British newspapers said the man in the latest scandal was a former High Commissioner to a Commonwealth country, who had access to top secret documents and was knighted for his services to the nation.

The Daily Mirror reported, without attribution, that he had served in key defence posts, and the Daily Mail said he had once been attached to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The Sunday Express said he had retired at 60, the normal retirement age for public servants.

The man was referred to but not named during the trial in London last week of Mr Tom O’Carroll, chairman of the Paedophile Information Exchange, a world-wide organisation of about 250 members who encourage sexual relations between adults and children.

Mr O’Carroll, a 35-year-old bachelor, was convicted on Friday of conspiring to corrupt public morals and was sentenced to two years’ jail.

Detectives from Scotland Yard’s obscene-publications squad reportedly questioned the former diplomat, said to be married and a father, after a package of pornographic photographs addressed to him had been found on a bus.

The Daily Mail said the detectives were furious that no charges had been filed against him.

“We thought we had a watertight case against this man”, it quoted a senior detective as saying.

LONDON, Friday (AAP-Reuter). – The British Government defended yesterday a decision not to prosecute Sir Peter Hayman, former British High Commissioner in Canada, who wrote obscene letters and subscribed to an organisation which advocates sex between adults and children.

The Attorney-General, Sir Michael Havers, told Parliament that the obscene letters discovered by police had been contained in sealed envelopes.

Although Sir Peter had subscribed to the Paedophile Information Exchange, “that is not an offence and there is no evidence that he was ever involved in the management”, Sir Michael told the House of Commons in a written reply.

A Conservative Member of Parliament, Mr Geoffrey Dickens, who used his parliamentary privilege to name Sir Peter in the House and to question the Government about the case, rejected the government reply.

He described it to reporters at a news conference as “the cover-up of the century – a total whitewash”, and said that Sir Michael Havers should resign.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General have let down all parents, grand parents and children in this country”, he said.

Mr Dickens astonished reporters when. he announced he was leaving his wife Norma to live with a 43-year-old nurse, Mrs Maureen Knight.

“I have come into the public eye beyond all expectations and as such I have a skeleton in the cupboard, and 1 have felt it was best to be honest”, he said.

April 1981

The North American Man-Boy Love Association was originally established in Boston 1978, 3+ years after PIE was established in the UK. One of the founding members of NAMBLA, Martin Swithinbank, was an Englishman with a number of publications to his name (or pseudonym) that turned up in the 1993 search of Michael Jackson’s bedroom in Neverland. In April 1981 Nassau County Police had begun observing a cottage at 664 Lincoln Street, Baldwin Harbour, Long Island, New York, the home of Martin Swithinbank.

April 1981: Nassau County Police had begun observing a cottage at 664 Lincoln Street, Baldwin Harbour, Long Island, New York, the home of Martin Swithinbank.

May 1981

June 1981

July 11 1981: After 4 months watching Swithinbank’s address in Baldwin Harbour he and Gerry Fox are arrested

September 1981 19/09/1981: Prince Charming by Adam & the Ants reaches No 1 – the video features Diana Dors.

October 1981

21 October, 1981. The Times. ‘Reception.’ ’The Earl of Snowdon, Patron of PHAB (physically handicapped and able bodied) and Mr Jimmy Savile (president) were hosts at a reception and dinner held at the Mount Royal Hotel yesterday to launch the charity’s silver jubilee celebration for 1982. Among the guests were: Mr Hugh Rossi, Minister of state for Social Security and the Disabled […].’

November 1981 – Howard Marks trial revealed as MI6 recruit

1981, November 6th – From Hansard. Cabinet Files Speech by Norman Fowler, Secretary of State for Social Services. ’One outstanding example of what can be achieved when the National Health Service, the community and voluntary interests are working together towards a shared goal is the national appeal which Jimmy Savile is mounting for the rebuilding of the spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville hospital.’ 1982 photograph of Norman Fowler and Savile being presented cheque.

November 1981 Howard Marks ‘Mr Nice Guy’ Old Bailey trial – Marks found not guilty of plotting to smuggle cannabis into Britain and the Crown is forced to admit he was an MI6 recruit.

English disc jockey and television presenter Jimmy Savile (1926 – 2011) and the Duke of Edinburgh with an architectural model of the Stoke Mandeville National Spinal Injuries Centre, 24th November 1981. (Photo by Doug McKenzie/Getty Images)

January – Kincora receives coverage in Irish Times and Social Work Today, Ian Paisley put on spot over dates when first alerted to abuse and John McKeague is murdered

Sex abuses investigation (5.1.82) Social Work Today, 5th January 1982 – BASW raise concerns over the independence of the Eastern Health and Social Services Board in investigating Kincora and 2 other homes – Bawnmore Home in Co. Antrim and Williamson Home in North Belfast. Peter Michael Bone, a scout leader and volunteer social worker and Robert Dewer are both convicted of offences committed during the 1960s at Bawnmore Home. Eric Witchell an Anglican lay monk was convicted of offences committed in 1979 at Williamson in North Belfast.

Cover-up of homosexual vice ring claimed in NI (12.1.82) Irish Times, 12th January 1982 – Ed Moloney & Andrew Pollack report the Royal Ulster Constabulary were blocked from further investigations into homes run by the Eastern H&SS Board in 1976 despite allegations existing back to 1973. A ring of 7 prominent people is alleged to include 2 British members of the Northern Ireland Office.

Sex ring cover-up inquiry (News of the World, 14/02/1982) Kincora Government inquiry falls apart during the preceding week when 3 members resign and it is proposed to put forward a Judge led inquiry which would also protect those giving evidence from accusations of libel

Case embarrassed Security Chiefs(Glasgow Herald, 17/02/1982) : Howard Marks recruited to trap an IRA arms and drugs dealer who remained free in South of France.

British Agents in Vice Ring Probe (News of the World, 21/02/1982, Gordon Leak) Ulster Secretary Jim Prior orders a public inquiry to determine the part played by fanatical Protestant para-military groups like Tara.

May 1982I’ll shame the stars: Sex secrets threat by pop boss (News of the World, 09/05/1982, Andrew Drummond) Following the jailing of Tam Paton for offences against 15-20 year old boys and men, ex-manager of the Bay City Rollers says he has a 200 page dossier containing damning evidence and photographs, “I’m talking about young male prostitutes and I’m talking about respectable people.”

Seven weeks on from Jilly Cooper’s journal entry for The Common Years, news of a raid at an an address in Rocks Lane, Barnes breaks in the national press…

August 1982 – Elm Guest House Story Breaks…and is silenced

Saturday 7 August 1982The Elm Guest House story at Rocks Lane, Barnes, West London, broke on 7th August 1982, when the Daily Express reported that “at least three MPs, a member of staff at Buckingham Palace, and leading lawyers, doctors and City businessmen” were questioned as part of inquires relating to “a vice ring” in “a brothel in a smart London suburb”.

“Scotland Yard has denied there had been a cover-up to try to protect MPs and other important visitors to the house. They say the case is a routine investigation being conducted by officers from Richmond police station. Clients are not normally involved in investigations into brothels. But because a schoolboy is alleged to have been one of the major attractions at Rocks Lane police say clients must be traced.”

November 1982Stalls are down on PIE (Islington Gazette, Friday 04/11/1983): Islington’s Chapel Market traders collected more than 2,000 signatures for a petition calling for the banning of the controversial Paedophile Information Exchange. Signatures included Islington Council Leader Margaret Hodge, former council leader Don Hoodless, Councillor Alex Farrell and the former Mayor of Finsbury Bill Withey. Petition organisers hope to present the petition to Chris Smith MP (Lab: Islington South & Finsbury – now Baron Smith of Finsbury in the House of Lords).

In a written reply to Dickens on Monday 15th November 1982, Thatcher denied that Geoffrey Prime was a PIE member: “I understand that stories that the police found documents in Prime’s house or garage indicating that he was a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange are without foundation, and that nothing was discovered to suggest he was”.(MPs continue to press for debate on Prime, Guardian 16/11/82)

Fri 12 November 1982: Nassau County, New York District Court finds the Martin Swithinbank/Jerry Fox Baldwin Harbour NAMBLA group of child abusers guilty

1983 – Year of General Election and Elm Guest House trial

1983: Year of General Election in June (Thatcher’s Second Term) During his tenure as Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) between 1983 and 1985, Maurice Oberstein convinced the British government of the huge contribution made by the UK music industry’s overseas profits to the exchequer. He was also on the Band Aid committee. At some point during 1983 two members of the Paedophile Information Exchange are interviewed for television about their opinions.

Len Davis wrote Sex and the Social Worker (Heinemann Educational Books, 1983), which was influential in forming social work practice in residential care, and goes some way to explaining why sexual crime against children was frequently ignored and not subject to investigation. Peter Righton is acknowledged by Davis as having read the draft of this book and “making many valuable and challenging suggestions”.

Scare Over Sex-Club Spy (09.01.83) News of the World, 9th January 1983 Alex Marunchak reported that Prime was also a member of North American Boy Lover Association (NAMBLA) and the fear that the KGB were still able to blackmail Prime’s fellow child abuse enthusiasts

Spotlight: The Spartacus paedophile network was exposed by The Sunday people in February 1983

In February 1983 John Picton, a former care worker, abducted a boy from the Conewood Assessment Centre in Islington where Jason Swift would later be associated with.

17 February 1983: Sexual abuse of children in care hushed up MPs told [Community Care] reports that NAYPIC’s representations to the Social Services Select committee in the preceding week had included allegations that Social Services Directors were suppressing allegations of abuse by children and allowing those accused to continue working with children unchecked

Geoffrey Dickens was still talking about the 2 correspondents from the Henderson/PIE trial in August 1983, when he said that “the Attorney General had conceded that within the PIE organisation there were people obsessed by the death of children by sexual torture”. Source The Sun 23.03.83

April 1983 – Savile as ‘The Godfather’, the Elm Guest House Trial and arrest of Coronation Street’s Peter Adamson

The Dark Truth about Jimmy Savile (11-13 April 1983, The Sun) A week before the Elm Guest House trial begins Savile chooses to give an interview headlined ‘The Godfather’ serialized over three days in The Sun newspaper, which almost scuppers his chances of a knighthood and putting Thatcher in the awkward position of being turned down [4] times before reluctant civil servants granted her wish.

Owners of Elm Guest House, Carol and Haroon Kasir trial started on 18th April 1983 at the Old Bailey.

On 24 April 1983, a Sunday newspaper reported that Adamson had been arrested forindecently assaulting two eight-year old girls in a public swimming pool inHaslingdenwhere he had assisted as a part-time instructor

May 1983 – Elm Guest House Trial over

May 1983Elm Guest House Couple Walk Free (Capital Gay, 06/05/1983) A month before the General Election is due to take place

The heavily redacted papers show that Lady Thatcher first wrote to Sir Robert Armstrong, the most senior civil servant in the country at the time and chair of the honours committee, about the issue of a knighthood for Savile in 1983.

Savile documents

Sir Robert vetoed the idea, saying it was too soon after “unfortunate revelations” in which the entertainer had boasted to the media of having sex with women he met while running charity marathons.

The prime minister raised the matter again just months later but Sir Robert said “lurid details” were unlikely to be have been forgotten and it “would be best if Mr Savile were to wait a little longer”.

“We remain worried,” he added. “Fears have been expressed that Mr Savile might not be able to refrain from exploiting a knighthood in a way which brought the honours system into disrepute.”

Monday 11 June Leon Brittan became Home Secretary in Thatcher’s second term cabinet

Wednesday 13 June 1983: Alan Clark MP (Con. Plymouth Sutton) writes in his diary:
“In London I collected the coven and off we went to Brooks’s for dinner. At intervals Joei said, “Gosh, Al, are you really a minister, zowee.” Valerie was less forthcoming. Ali sulked and sneered. Driving away, we went past the Ritz and Joei said, “Gosh, is that the Ritz? I wish we could go in there.” “Why?” “To go to bed, of course.” I was thoughtful. I have always been culpably weak in such matters”

On 26 July 1983, a Crown Court jury found Adamson not guilty, George Carman QC defending.

August 1983 – Islington Council ‘gay job pledges’, Brighton 3-man assault on 6 year old boy, Attorney General

In August Labour-run Islington Council announces ‘gay jobs pledges’ according to Capital Gay in an attempt at a positive discrimination package which also completely disregarded child protection considerations.Islington takes the wraps off pledges(Capital Gay, 05/08/1983) The previous Thursday Council Leader Margaret Hodge formally proposed the new gay anti-discrimination/ positive discrimination package drafted by the Council’s Policy and Partnership Committee. Unanimously voted through, only Councillor Bob Crossman spoke.

“We discovered that paedophiles had penetrated the network of homes so completely that they had begun using them to procure children. The council had wanted to encourage gay men into childcare in the interests of equal opportunities, but this well-intentioned aim was so naively implemented that paedophiles posed as gay men to take advantage of the policy. The council exempted any man who said he was gay from needing professional qualifications or references, declared gay men less likely to abuse children than heterosexuals as a matter of policy and repeatedly assumed that any criticisms of men who claimed to be gay were motivated purely by homophobia. Even children who tearfully described abuse were considered prejudiced.”

Sunday 14/08/1983:‘Brighton Beasts’ – A 6 year old boy is kidnapped and sexually assaulted by 3 men in a car, Lewes Road, Brighton and left at Newhaven, Sussex. During the last week of August Geoffrey Dickens MP featured in headlines of a variety of newspapers as the police continue to seek the perpetrators of the Brighton attack.

Monday 22/08/1983 In August 1983, The Sun reported that Geoffrey Prime had been a PIE member, and that “angry Americans” were convinced that the Attorney General, Sir Michael Havers, had held back from mentioning this “to avoid embarassing security chiefs”. Sir Michael Havers, complained to the Press Council and his complaint was upheld after The Sun failed to produce any evidence of their claim. (The Times 22/08/83)The Sun and Sir Michael: Press Council rap over spy(The Sun, 22/08/1983)

God Help our Little Children(Daily Express, 22/08/1983): Jill Knight MP (Con. Edgbaston) and Sir Bernard Braine MP (Con. Castle Point, Essex) back Dickens call to ban PIE. Charles Oxley, PIE infiltrator sent his report to then Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw and asked what he would do if an organisation banded together to make rape legal

Sir Bernard Braine MP (Castle Point, Con) and Valerie Riches had teamed up to form The Responsible Society, in order to battle paedophiles. Home Secretary Leon Brittan has informed them he is planning an urgent “council of war” using conspiracy laws, ‘a blitz’ at customs and ‘tough action’ against people who send obscene material through the post. – Scotland Yard sends 2 year report to DPP

Sex with Children DPP Gets Names ‘ (Daily Mail, 24/08/1983) Previous evening Scotland Yard sent dossier on PIE to the DPP “naming active supporters of the PIE and giving details of the organisation’s latest activities. The DPP Sir Tony Hetherington, and his staff of lawyers will study this evidence to consider prosecutions. Home Secretary Leon Brittan has called for the same Yard dossier to be on his desk when he returns from holiday on Friday.” Dickens MP also preparing to name a list of paedophiles in the House of Commons under parliamentary privilege.

The two-year investigation into PIE began after the prosecution of Tom O’Carroll in 1981 and the DPP dossier was undertaken and produced by just two members of Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad. Leon Brittan will see the report on his return from holiday on Friday.

Thursday 25/08/1983Brittan wants paedophile report (The Telegraph, 25/08/1983): There were two dossiers already being passed to the DPP – One was a dossier on individual PIE members sent to DPP, the other was a ‘A Special report by Scotland Yard on an organisation campaigning for the legalisation of sex between adults and children has been called for by the Home Secretary, Mr Brittan.’ Report suggests Brittan has to request the Scotland Yard Special Report to be sent to him on his return having heard of its imminent publication while he was away on holiday.

News of Dickens dossier reaches Canada

‘Public figures named in files on sex offenders in Britain’ (The Global Canada & Mail ,25/08/1983)”Home Secretary Leon Brittan has ordered a copy of the report by tomorrow, his officials said.Mr. Dickens said the Scotland Yard report, like his own dossier, contain the names of a number of top people in public life and show business.The allegations come amid continuing national outrage over an organized abduction and sexual assault on a 6-year-old boy by three men in southern England 10 days ago.”

Yard send child sex file to DPP (Daily Mirror, 26/08/1983): Two Home Office contract workers sacked once revealed as being member of PIE. See here for further information onHome Office employee Clifford Hindley. Many of the 3,000 calls police received as giving information on the Brighton assault on the 6 year old boy are reported as having been regarded as jilted lovers attempting revenge on their ex-boyfriends?

Saturday 27/08/1983 Dexys Midnight Runners – Come on Eileen has been Number 1 for 4 weeks.

Sunday 28/08/1983 Campaign for Homosexual Equality Annual Conference takes place in London: CHE voted in an emergency resolution to deplore witch-hunts against minority groups including PIE in the wake of the attack on the 6 year old boy in Brighton. It condemned all violent attacks on children (sexual ones as well, or considered to be one and the same?) and declared support for the Brighton Gay community in the face of concerted efforts to link them with the case.

Emblazoned as News of the World shock report. Subtle as ever. Why does Lee Edwards break ranks all of a sudden? He has a 14 year old boyfriend but while the headline suggests outrage at plans to abuse 4 year olds, Edwards discomfort is directed at PIE Executive Committee to insert names of VIPs into a bogus list of members. He wants to expose this sinister plan suggested a week ago, in response to the two year investigation by Scotland Yard and the dossier given to the DPP which rather suggests PIE were a little late with their ‘cunning plan’ ? However one assumes that the plan being published in the press at the same time gave Dickens sufficient pause for thought. News of the World spoke to ‘a retired charity chief and a former top British diplomat in the Foreign Service’, which are both descriptions which could apply to Sir Peter Hayman. This former diplomat’s response was: “I’ll have to think about legal action against whoever has used my name.”

PIE former Executive Committee member Lee Evans tells of PIE meeting the previous week in the Hemingsford Arms, Islington, where it was debated to offer £5,000 as a reward to find three men who assaulted 6 year old in Brighton. Ferry quiz on attack boy(News of the World (28/08/1983) Detective Inspector John Bishop takes police to Newhaven ferry port in Sussex to greet and quiz holiday-makers returning from a fortnight break ago, who might have seen something on their outward journey.

A month later the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) ‘steps up support for PIE’ (Capital Gay, 30/09/1983), a few weeks after The Observer reports ‘PIE Account closed’(04/09/1983) in early September.

By the end of November Geoffrey Dickens MP has collated his first dossier and his offices are raided before Christmas (‘Sex Tory crusade MP’s office raided’ The Daily Mail, 02/12/1983)

14 October: Tory Party Conference – Does Vivian Bendall MP’s forecast of trouble over Brittan’s response to child abuse scandals hold true? 6 or so weeks later Dickens goes public with his first dossier handover to Home Secretary Brittan

Children who were evicted from The Hollies were sent 200 miles away to the Bryn Alyn home in NorthWales, which is now known to have been staffed by paedophiles who abused countless children in their care. See Southwark Council and Bryn Alyn

Palace link in child sex scandal(Daily Express, Friday 25/11/1983): ‘Express Exclusive on the dossier of shame that shocked the Home Secretary’ – ‘massive dossier of evidence’ – ‘sex scandal involving a 16 year old boy’ at Buckingham Palace – Dickens MP was ‘greatly encouraged by his 30 minute meeting with Mr Brittan’ – ‘…the Home Secretary was equally as sickened about this as I am. He told me that he would investigate all the cases in my file. Mr Brittan also told the MP that he would take action to fill any gaps in the law relating to child sex’.’ If Brittan’s memory is of the same meeting Dickens was quoted on attending above, Dickens had been greatly encouraged by Brittan’s response. Dickens was quite open to the press about the nature of the allegations contained in the dossier and yet the Buckingham Palace, diplomatic and civil service allegations which had ‘equally sickened’ Brittan weren’t memorable.

-reported to be 50 pages, contained information on the Paedophile Information Exchange, an organisation that campaigned to legalise sex with children,

-and gave details of ‘sex assaults at a children’s home’,

– named prominent paedophiles including a ‘top television executive’ alleged to have had sex with a child and seen with known paedophiles,

– and alleged police were accepting bribes from sex-shop owners.

Row over Palace Vice ‘Cover-Up’ (News of the World, 15/01/1984, Alex Marunchak) – ‘A secret report alleging an Establishment cover-up over a homosexual vice ring at Buckingham Palace is being studied by Home Secretary Leon Brittan’ – ‘been operating for years’ – ‘senior civil servants who he says had in his office 57 obscene slides showing adults having sex with children. The incident was hushed up by the Civil Service, he claims’.

Thursday 19th January 1984 Huddersfield Daily Examiner (19.1.84) gives more detail on the January 1984 dossier – apparently it also contains ‘allegations of child assault at the ceremonies of religious cults‘. MP hands over shock report on child sex (Daily Mirror, 19/01/1984)

Limited Inquiry will not satisfy Kincora critics (Irish Times, 19/01/1984) : Terms of reference confined to Social Services field – unsure if it would have the powers to:- (a) subpoena witnesses; or (b) make witnesses produce documentary evidence; or (c) require witnesses to answer questions

In Scotland The Glasgow Herald reports Woman tells Old Bailey jury she never met Heath (19/01/1984) The defendant to an accusation of rape claimed his ex-lover was trying to silence him because he saw photos of Edward Heath and a Detective Sergeant Wallace in pornographic photos involving his two children and his wife. “The court heard on Tuesday that Mr Heath categorically denied he was in the alleged photographs.”

Joan Miller, author of One Girl’s War, dies aged 68 in June 1984 in Malta having just finished her memories. Her daughter and her publishers Brandon based in Co. Kerry, Ireland, will have to fight Sir Michael Havers, as Attorney-General in the High Court in Dublin before being allowed to publish in 1986.

21 June – 28th June The Morning Star and The Times stated rumours regarding a Thatcher government minister being involved in a child sex scandal were circulating. On 22nd The Sydney Morning Herald reports the rumours as circulating since November 1983:

“The sex scandal rumours come at a time when Mrs Thatcher’s Government is under fire over the increasingly violent miners’ strike, which has been running for 102 days. The Queen has made known her concern.”

“Downing Street this morning told AAP that writs for libel would be issued against any newspaper or broadcasting body that identified the minister around whom rumours have been circulating for some time.

Government officers described the stories as “assassination by gossip”.

The Communist Morning Star today reported “a child sex scandal involving a Government minister” might be about to break.

A Guardian columnist disclosed that another newspaper was investigating “a sensational Whitehall sex scandal”, but gave no details.

The Observer also teased with the mention of “scandal, or rumours of scandal” when offering a number of reasons for a lift on political temperatures.

The Times political correspondent today said rumours involving a Cabinet minister had been circulating since last November and had been revived with an investigation by The Mail on Sunday.

The correspondent, Anthony Bevins, says the Commons tearoom – the hub of Westminster gossip – has been told the story will going to “break” this weekend.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the minister concerned has denied the rumours and said he would take legal action if identified in connection with them.

“Because the minister mentioned is of Cabinet rank, it can be taken that the security services have investigated the rumours,” reported James Wightman, political correspondent of the Telegraph.

“It can also be taken that the minister has seen the Prime Minister about the matter. Mrs Thatcher has clearly given him an expression of her unqualified confidence.””

Child Sex ring’s Home Office Link (Evening Standard, 07/11/1984): During the trial of Bremner and Joy it was revealed a Home Office telephone number was being used in Steven Adrian Smith’s office. Smith, 30, Christchurch Avenue, Harrow fled to Holland. ‘Child sex pair cleared’ (The Sun, 14/11/1984)

Siwthinbank’s Baldwin Harbor raided: In 1986 Martin Swithinbank was named as a founding member of NAMBLA in an article reporting the capture and conviction of fellow abuser Stewart Geller, a Boy Scout leader who had fled charges when Swithinbank’s home in Baldwin Harbor was raided in 1985

Geller, one of eight defendants charged with sexually assaulting boys at a home in Baldwin Harbor, N.Y., was extradited to New York last year, said Elaine Stack, district attorney in Nassau County.

The owner of the home was a founding member of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, an organization working for legalization of sex between men and underage boys, Stack said. NAMBLA literature was found in the home, she said.

A former detective who worked on the original investigation into Cooke told the Sunday Mirror that the minister was among those alleged to have been ­photographed in a 1986 police surveillance on premises where boys had been dropped off. Others allegedly included Jimmy Savile, MP Cyril Smith and top judges – though none of them were ever arrested.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions should be asked to put his house in order or resign, Mr Geoffrey Dickens (Littleborough and Saddleworth, C) maintained during questions in the Commons to the Solicitor General. Many MPs and members of the public were very disturbed at the workings of the DPP’s office, said Mr Dickens. Time and time again (he said) good and proper evidence is put forward and many times charges are abandoned. Many times lesser charges are brought which disturbs many people like myself and certainly disturbs observers at the trial. Will the Solicitor General ask the DPP to get his house in order or resign? Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Solicitor General: I shall talk to the DPP at 3.45pm today but I shall not put to him that question or suggestion Mr Dickens has just put. His question was rather long on generalities but singularly short on particulars.”